Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Most Recent: PC
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture leads with 10 nominations at the 2016 BAFTA Games Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) bestowed some absolutely rapturous acclaim on Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture yesterday. The game, which was developed by The Chinese Room and released exclusively for the PS4, was nominated in ten categories for this year’s BAFTA Games Awards.
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will obviously be competing for “Best Game” at the 2016 BAFTAs, and also for “Best British Game,” “Artistic Achievement,” “Audio Achievement,” “Game Innovation,” “Music,” “Original Property,” and “Story.” Two nominations in the “Performer” category (one for Merle Dandridge and one for Oliver Dimsdale) round out its double digit list of accolades.
However, five other games (Fallout 4, Life Is Strange, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rocket League, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) are also up for “Best Game” and any one of them could easily steal the spotlight from Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
We’ll find out who takes the top prize on Thursday, April 7, when comedian Dara O’Briain returns to host the festivities, which will be televised via Twitch and BAFTA.org. The complete list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
Capcom reveals a few details about Alex and the rest of Street Fighter V’s first update
Street Fighter V‘s first major update will be released later this month, and today, Capcom revealed more information about fans should expect.
The centerpiece of this update is the inclusion of Alex, the game’s first downloadable character. Players can use Fight Money, Street Fighter V’s in-game currency to obtain Alex for free, but the he’ll also be available for sale individually and as part of the game’s Season Pass. Alex originally made his debut in 1997’s Street Fighter III and he retains a lot of his grappling abilities in his latest incarnation:
About Alex
In Street Fighter V, Alex returns as a powerful grappler that can inflict big damage with his close range Power Bomb command grab and his long limbs to fight from midrange distances. The threat doesn’t end there however, as Alex has a variety of special attacks that can cover a large portion of the screen for those times when the opponent keeps him out. Players looking for a methodical grappler who can do big burst damage up close, yet still do well at midrange, will find themselves perfectly at home with Alex.V-Skill: Overhaul
Alex stretches and gets ready to land the next killer blow. Once Alex finishes his animation, the very next attack he pulls off will count as a hard hit and damage the opponent as if they were counter attacked. If that attack misses or is blocked however, he loses the hard hit bonus.V-Trigger: Rage Shift
Alex channels his wrestling training and gains access to a brand new clothesline attack. This attack can be charged and during that time, it can parry an attack. Upon full charge, if Alex makes contact with a blocking opponent, he will break their guard, leaving them open to an immediate attack.Critical Art: Heavy Hammer
Alex hits the opponent with a thunderous chop that knocks the opponent around. He then grabs them and takes them up to the highest of heights in a crucifix hold, only to viciously drop them down on their heads at the fastest of speeds.
You can head on over to the Capcom-Unity blog for more details on the free portion of the update including a Challenge Mode complete with Tutorials and Trials for each fighter, the In-Game Shop, and an online rematch option.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Street Fighter V
Deep Silver taps Sumo Digital to complete Dead Island 2 development
Deep Silver has momentarily shoved Dead Island 2 aside to promote the release of this May’s Dead Island: Definitive Collection. But the publisher plans to return to the troubled sequel in the near future and they’ve confirmed to MCV that development will be continued by Sumo Digital.
“Sumo showed so much understanding of the brand, had creative ideas and an excellent, vision that was aligned with our own,” Koch Media CEO Dr. Klemens Kundratitz told MCV.
“It just made perfect sense for us to move the project to them. We will reveal more details at a later stage, but for now I’d like to say that we are obviously super excited about the progress that we are making with them.”
Development on Dead Island 2 originally began at Yager, but Deep Silver yanked the game away from the Spec Ops: The Line team after their progress didn’t meet the publisher’s expectations.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Dead Island 2
Telltale will unmask their Batman game at SXSW 2016
Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner is understandably excited about the developer’s upcoming Batman project, but we’ve yet to get a really good look at the game. That’ll all change next week at the 2016 SXSW Gaming Expo.
Bruner, along with Executive Producer TQ Jefferson, writer Pierre Shorette, and PR guru Job Stauffer, are taking a trip down to Austin to present “Batman: Telltale Unmasked,” a panel with comedian Greg Miller. The Telltale team will delve into what make’s The Batman (and Bruce Wayne) tick, and the reasons behind his neverending battle with Gotham City’s underworld:
Hear the first details on Telltale’s upcoming new series as Greg Miller interviews the award-winning developers to dive deeper into the complex life and mind of Bruce Wayne, the duality of his own identity, and the struggle of responsibility in saving a city overcome with corruption and villainy.
“Batman: Telltale Unmasked” will be held on Friday, March 18, at 4:30 PM in Ballroom C at the Austin Convention Center.
Street Fighter V Review: Here Comes A (Mostly) New Challenger
In 1991, my friends and I habitually visited Fielder’s Choice, a sports card shop in the Chicagoland area. There, we bought and traded cards with fellow card aficionados. My poison of choice were the baseball cards from Topps. I even think I still have my Roberto Alomar Desert Shield card still laying around somewhere. Sorry, I’m getting off-base here. The reason I mention this shop is because one day, we strolled into Fielder’s Choice and saw that the owner had put up a Street Fighter II arcade machine. That day, we ended up spending all our card money on this new, amazing game.
For months after that, we ditched the card-collecting scene and joined in on the fun, fast-paced world of beating the crap out of each other. Later, my buddy Andy got the console version for his Super Nintendo. A few months after that, Fielders Choice went under. I’m not saying it’s a direct correlation, but yeah. Point being, I grew up with the Street Fighter franchise. But as the years went by, we grew in two different directions. The fighting system became way too sophisticated, and just I couldn’t keep up. When I finally got into Street Fighter IV, I wasn’t able to last thirty seconds in an online match. Expecting more of the same, I came into Street Fighter V with some trepidation. But now, I’m feeling a lot like I did 25 years ago. (more…)
Posted in PC, PS4, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Street Fighter V
Doom’s Closed Beta begins on March 31… watch the new Multiplayer Trailer now
If you pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order back in 2014, it’s finally going to pay off, as Bethesda has announced that’s Doom‘s multiplayer beta will begin on Thursday, March 31, at 10:00 PM (Eastern Time). Players will get to strap themselves in for a four-day fragfest of epic proportions as the beta is scheduled to conclude on Sunday, April 3, at midnight (Eastern Time).
Bethesda also released a new Multiplayer Trailer today to prepare players for the brutal and bloody beta. Further intel is available at the Beta FAQ page.
Doom will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 13.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016)
Telltale’s CEO talks about the company’s Batman game and his dream projects
Telltale Games has been busy, busy, busy over the last few years. Since 2013, the developer has launched five different episodic titles (The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead Season 2, Tales From the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, and Minecraft: Story Mode), and they don’t seem to have any plans for slowing down. This year, Telltale will release the final episode for Mincraft: Story Mode, along with The Walking Dead: Michonne and maybe even Game of Thrones Season 2. They’ll also release the first episode of a brand new Batman series this year, possibly their biggest game ever.
Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner recently sat down with Kotaku Australia to discuss the company’s future, and he had a lot to say about the Caped Crusader:
“Our Batman series is looking fantastic. I think it might become one of the best things we’ve ever done. I can’t go into much detail, but the Batman team is amazing and they are really on top of it. It’s not like any other Batman game out there. This game really explores all aspects of Batman, not just the the ‘fighting in the suit’ side of him. There’s a lot of subplots to explore and some really amazing choices that have a big impact on the story being told. I really think it might be the peak of the mountain for us so far.”
Working on a Batman game is clearly a dream for Bruner, but the executive dreams big, and he has a number of other projects that he’d love to be working on:
“Personally, I’m on record saying how much I’d love to make a Telltale Star Wars game. I’ve made Star Wars action games in the 90s when I worked at LucasArts, but a Telltale Star Wars game would be a dream come true. And Bond. James Bond would be freaking awesome. And Fletch. And Chinatown. Oh, and The Shining.”
Until just this moment, I never knew how much I wanted a game based on The Shining. Batman: A Telltale Game Series will make its debut sometime in 2016.
Sniper Elite 4 will be released for PC, PS4, Xbox One this year
Rebellion has announced that Sniper Elite 4 is in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Best of all, the sniper simulator will be released this year. This time out, “elite marksman” Karl Fairburne is behind enemy lines in Italy in 1943:
Italy, 1943. Covert agent and elite marksman Karl Fairburne must help free Italy from the yoke of Fascism and defeat a terrifying new threat that could halt the Allied fightback in Europe before it’s even begun.
From sun-drenched Mediterranean coastal towns, to colossal Nazi megastructures, daunting forests, and giddying mountain monasteries, Sniper Elite 4 will offer breathless emergent stealth action and unrivaled sniping freedom across maps many times the size of those seen in Sniper Elite 3.
In addition to the supposedly massive single-player campaign, players will be able to team up with friends for a co-operative or compete in an adversarial mode. Rebellion doesn’t want to waste any time and plans to reveal more information about Sniper Elite 4 during next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.